1957

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Not many folk will have seen any speedway in 2020.

I was lucky, as I was involved in the Benfund Bonanza at Scunthorpe in March – held on the very cusp of lockdown, but even then with no real worries that there might not be a season……

“See you next week!” folk were gaily saying to each other as they packed away the gear.  “Well, maybe a couple of weeks, after they get this virus tamed”.

Aye, right!

That we would be here, two full months later, with no kind of season yet in prospect would have been unimaginable

Unthinkable:  Like goosing Barbara Horley, or slipping a whoopee cushion under an FIM referee as he sat down.

Unbelievable.  But there we have it.

By being at Scunthorpe I have been able to maintain a record stretching back to 1958 – 62 years – during which I have been able to attend at least one speedway meeting every year.  Indeed, as I also saw speedway during the eight years from 1949 through to 1956, that’ll be seventy-one out of seventy-two years that I’ve watched some sideways action!

The missing year was 1957.

No speedway in Scotland that year, and I was just too young to be allowed to venture south in search of my thrills.

But I survived, and in 1958 — when Motherwell staged a five-meeting open licence season — there I was and here I’ve been, every year, ever since!

Why do I tell you all this?

Well, there are merchants of doom saying that, if we don’t get any more speedway in 2020, that’s it — our interest will die, public interest will wither away and no-one will remember how much fun they have on a night out at the skids.

Nonsense!    Twaddle!   Hogwash!    I refuse to swallow this baloney without a substantial sprinkling of proof sauce

In 1957, I saw no speedway.    Did I forget?        Did it kill off my interest?

Trust me, when we are allowed to stage speedway again there will be an audience there, ready, willing and able to pick up their love for the game where they left off.

Meantime, while I await release from my locked-down isolation, I’ve been pretty busy.

I sleep a lot (the longer one sleeps, the shorter the days) and have been pottering around my little palace, putting up new shelves, installing some recording equipment and polishing my ego.     Mostly the latter.

I needed some tools and equipment, and have been impressed by the way organisations such as Amazon, B&Q and Screwfix have been prepared to wrestle each other for my orders, and make delivery of chosen products to my locked-down door.

As an aside, can I say that I used to think Screwfix was a dating agency?

We live and learn.

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Want to disagree with Dick (as so many do?).   He is always happy to hear from interesting people